Are we in danger of having too many players?

[Dante Lavelli]

I sometimes wonder, do we have a sort of 'fear of success'?

This thing of having a quality squad is the one leap we didn't make when we had good teams in 1997, the 00s and again under MON.

I think we spent enough under MON, he just spent badly in his later years at the club.

[ADVILLAFAN]

Think we could do with shifting some Wingers and Central Midfielders.

Also players like Kalinic, Guilbert (much as I like him), Keinan and Big Wes. Obviously some are out on loan anyway and Hot Lips will be off at the end of the season.

[sickbeggar]

I sometimes wonder, do we have a sort of 'fear of success'?

This thing of having a quality squad is the one leap we didn't make when we had good teams in 1997, the 00s and again under MON.

Well we certainly paid the money and had the numbers for a quality squad under MON. They were just shit, which is probably why some of us are nervous

[paul_e]

Think we could do with shifting some Wingers and Central Midfielders.

Also players like Kalinic, Guilbert (much as I like him), Keinan and Big Wes. Obviously some are out on loan anyway and Hot Lips will be off at the end of the season.

Wingers yes, we have 2 extra compared to last season. Coutinho, Buendia, Bailey and Traore is a fantastic set of options, Trez and AEG just don't seem to fit anymore.

Midfield I disagree I think we're one short in there. We play with 3, normally a defensive player and 2 more general options, if you, as seems to be the case for most on here, see Luiz as part of the latter group then we have McGinn, Luiz, Sanson and Ramsey for those 2 and Nakamba for the defensive role with no obvious cover for him (other than shifting one of the others deeper). Another Defensive player in there and we'd have a really strong midfield.

Hourihane has already gone, his contract ends in the summer so he'll never be part of our squad again, Guilbert would be worth another look in my opinion but KKH might have overtaken him by the summer. Kalinic will be a tough one to move on, might just have to wait it out until his contract ends. Wes and Davis are both on key loans right now that will play a big part in what happens next in their careers, we need to wait unti lthe summer to see what happens there.

[Pat Mustard]

The only concern for me is that the transfer policy does seem to be going back to relying heavily on 'proven' Premier League performers.  Of the signings in the summer and since the only one who hadn't played in the Premier League previously was Bailey.  In and of itself this might not be a bad thing necessarily, but it is rather reminiscent of what happened under MON, when I thought that the infrastructure at the club nowadays meant we were looking at uncovered gems not just obvious choices.

[Monty]

I agree that if you look at the four wider forwards (10s? Inside-forwards? I don't know anymore) thems some stellar options. I also don't think it's as bad news for Carney as has been reported, as I think Gerrard sees him in midfield, competing with Ramsey for a place. Exciting times.

[Villan82]

I sometimes wonder, do we have a sort of 'fear of success'?

This thing of having a quality squad is the one leap we didn't make when we had good teams in 1997, the 00s and again under MON.

I think we spent enough under MON, he just spent badly in his later years at the club.

Just to clarify, yes, I appreciate all the criticisms of the MON era- buying the wrong players etc. The point is, I guess, we didn't use the squad. We ran the 11-14 players into the ground.

In my opinion the villa didn't adjust to having a big squad that you rotate. I heard Brian Little say that this is where he also went wrong, he preferred having his first 11-14 players and struggled when it came to assembling a squad.

[caster troy]

It feels unbalanced right now because we have decided to go ahead and sign the players Gerrard thinks we need before we let anyone go. That suggests to me that we are having a crack at getting into Europe this season, which seems unlikely but I can't fault the ambition. The knock on impact will be less incomings in the summer presumably, while we see quite a few exits. It probably wouldn't have been so dramatic if the new system wasn't so different to Smiths, with the need for wing backs and 'number 10's' instead of full backs and wingers.

The danger is we won't get much for the new 'bomb squad' but I don't see how we can avoid that now if we want to progress.

[Smithy]

I'm perfectly happy with the current approach of "buy who we want before we sell who we don't need".

Given the choice between a few fringe players being unhappy at their amount of playing time, or fans being unhappy at the lack of decent options on the bench, I know which I'd choose.

[sickbeggar]

Anyway with Phil we only have 20 non-youth players, so the answers is no, not at all.

[SoccerHQ]

Steer, Hause, Targett, El Ghazi and Trez won't be here next season imo.

Would've put Nakamba in with those two months back but in fairness he's done well and fully expect him to get new deal as back up DM for next few years.

Luiz has yet to sign a new contract. He's a must keep for me but perhaps he'll move on.

Ings is interesting one. I think we could well move him on if we get a money back offer in the summer but who knows perhaps the goal at Brentford will spark another 10 between now and May.

We are top heavy out wide but I wouldn't say other areas we're flowing with numerous options. A few prem teams have 5 CBs, we just have three currently.

Another factor is I assume 9 subs is here to stay so that's 18 outfield players involved on a matchday. Makes sense to put on bench 2-3 kids but you obviously need more experienced options aswell to tip balance of game in your favour.

[Hookeysmith]

I think City / Chelsea / Liverpool keep huge squads fresh and happy as they play so many games (ironically something their coaches continually complain about) but until we are there i see a few of ours getting unhappy, especially the younger players.
I mean take Bailey as an example, i don't know the man or his attitude but he was a big star when we bought him and a lot of our fans were raving that he was the potential superstar to launch us into the next level.
Now injuries aside i would struggle to see where he would fit in so will he be happy to be on the bench seemingly more than in the team?

Just look how rancid United have become with the prima donnas all having a moan. We have seen first hand what happens when the club starts to turn toxic

[supertom]

Two of Trez, Troare, and El Goalzi will go. I suspect Traore could be kept and for me, because he's a little mercurial, he's a useful game changer. El Goalzi can put chances away and takes a mean pen, but doesn't create enough. He's been great for us all told, to help us to this point, but for the next step, he's not good enough. Trezegeut likewise. I'll overlook that shambolic dive because generally he's always grafted and tried. But time to go, because he's pretty limited as a player. AEG will have takers. Trezeguet will be harder to shift, as we'll have to pelt him out to a club in Europe in a league that might struggle with the wages we've put him on. Goalzi will conceivably be courted by Prem clubs (West Ham?) or back in Holland.

As said, Hause will be upgraded. We need a better third choice, and in theory a youngster could then take 4th spot. We probably need a better backup than Steer, and by the same token, Jed is too good and too old now to stays as a third choice. He should go to the champ and play a full season. He needs to play now, but that can't really be here. Wesley will go permanently too.

Then in CM I think Gerrard is running the rule over Douglas, Sanson to see if they're gonna be worth keeping longer term. I suspect Sanson will actually be the one who makes it, and Douglas might get pushed on unless he improves his workrate.

Jury is out on Bailey too, but a big part of that is his injury record.

[paul_e]

Steer is a tough one for me. If he doesn't play much then I trust him to come in for a game or 2 here and there but if Emi picked up a long-term injury I'd be very nervous about Steer taking over for a long run of games. I guess that makes him a 2.5 keeper and I guess a loan for half a year to see if can prove himself as a 2nd is a good idea, would need to be to a top half of championship or scottish prem level side though, not much point him going any lower than that.

Randolph in for 6 months to allow for that and then make a decision in the summer seems ok. Either wat I'd keep Sinisalo as 3rd and be looking for him to step up over the next 18months, I think he's got the potential to be a very good keeper, I like Marschall as well and I suspect 1 of them will make it with us (at least as the backup/cup keeper).

[darren woolley]

We need strength in depth but I'm sure he will ship some out the one's he doesn't fancy.